Spain becomes first country in Europe to ban social media for under-16s

Spain announced plans on Tuesday to introduce an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s as part of a broader crackdown on tech giants over systemic failures to protect users from harm.

Pedro Sanchez, the prime minister of Spain, spoke at the World Government Summit in Dubai and decried the misconduct of social media platforms. Sanchez said teens under 16 will be unable to access social media platforms starting next week as part of a series of five government measures targeting the platforms.

"Social media has become a failed state, a place where laws are ignored, and crime is endured, where disinformation is worth more than truth, and half of users suffer hate speech," Sanchez said. "A failed state in which algorithms distort the public conversation and our data and image are defied and sold."

He explained that to enforce a ban for under-16s, "platforms will be required to implement effective age-verification systems — not just checkboxes, but real barriers that work."

Sanchez added: "Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone: a space of addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation, and violence. We will no longer accept that. We will protect them from the digital wild west."

Spain is the first European country to officially introduce a ban after Australia's Online Safety Amendment Act came into effect in December.

It effectively required platforms such as Meta's Instagram, ByteDance's TikTok, Alphabet's YouTube, Elon Musk's X, and Reddit to implement age-verification measures or face a fine of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32 million) for non-compliance.

Spain has yet to define which firms are affected by its new rules, but Sanchez criticized major platforms, including TikTok, for allowing accounts to share "AI-generated child abuse materials," Elon Musk's X for enabling its AI chatbot Grok to "generate illegal sexual content," and Instagram for "spying on millions of Android users," amongst other misdoings.

CNBC has reached out to TikTok, X and Instagram regarding these claims and is awaiting comment.

Spain's four other measures focus on legal accountability for executives who fail to remove unregulated or hateful content, and turning "algorithmic manipulation and the amplification of illegal content" into a new criminal offense.

Sanchez mentioned that five other European countries had joined Spain in enforcing stricter rules on social media platforms.

France's National Assembly recently voted in favor of a bill that would restrict social media access for under-16s, but the bill still needs to be approved by the Senate before it officially passes. Similarly, the U.K. House of Lords backed a ban on social media for under-16s, but it must first pass through the House of Commons for approval.